----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Crawford" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'aleggett'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'insights-l'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 1:09 PM Subject: RE: Praying for Rain
> Allan, > > Let's suppose we put the Big Bang into reverse and the universe contracted into > something the size of a pea. Would your God exist outside of this pea? > > Greg > Yes. And I at no time suggest that God is limited in time and space and to only existing within the universe. The point is that I don't so much see God as "a being" but "the essence of being." Allan > > -----Original Message----- > From: aleggett [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, 14 August 2004 12:57 PM > To: Greg Crawford; 'insights-l' > Subject: Re: Praying for Rain > > Greg wrote: > > > Allan, > > > > What is it you find theologically unacceptable, the idea that God is > external to > > the world, or the idea that God occasionally intervenes? > > > Primarily, I find there is insufficient evidence to sustain belief in such a > God. This understanding of God may well have been sufficient with the old 3 > tier understanding of the world. It was easy. With the sky as the dome that > seperated the earth from heaven this God (or Gods as the case may be) was > seen to control everything from his dwelling place. When things went wrong > or people got sick it was because they had done something to offend God. > > But we don't live in that world view anymore. We know that the sky is not a > dome above the earth and that the earth is simply a speck of dust that > exists in a gigantic universe that for most of us is beyond our ability to > imagine. We also know that we are really only bacteria that are occupying > that speck of dust and that at a micro level there are minute particles that > come together to form not only us but all of the visible universe. > > It seems to me that we are left with two alternatives. (1), that there is no > God - that everything exists purely as a matter of chance, or (2) God is > something very different from what our ancestors imagined. > > I, like most people, still believe that there is something at the heart of > creation and being that I call God but I cannot justify a belief in a sort > of supernatural being who lives 'up there' as judge and controler of all > that occurs 'down here'. > > But I can perceive that God is the source and ground of all being. I can > believe that this something that I call God is the very energy (if that is > the right term) that motivate or urges the whole of creation into evolving > and being and becoming. So this God is not 'out there' or 'up there' > controlling and judging, but rather, this God is 'within here' as the > 'urge' the push to become, to be. > > This god does not and cannot be defined or confined to a particular > revelation or experience of one tribe of people in a particular time and > space because this God is present and part of all people, all life, all > matter, all black holes and white dwarfs, as well as non-matter. (Something > I cannot really comprehend, but you scientist type people tell me it exists) > > But this God is part of our human experience. This God is also knowable from > within the limited consiousness that we humans hold. I believe that in the > man known as Jesus of Nazerath we have seen an expression of God in his > humanness that transcends our normal human conciousness and leads us to a > fuller expression of God in our own humanity. > > Grace & Peace > Allan > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------ > > - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message > body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) > > See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm > > ------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
